Boxes and containers, whether formed of cardboard or corrugated paper, abound in modern society, and are used to store a wide variety of objects.
Many boxes, such as those commonly seen in the supermarket, have a single rectangular shape, and are formed by providing a blank with a plurality of top and/or bottom flaps which are adapted to be selectively folded to overlap one another. A suitable adhesive or tape is used to hold selected flaps in their operative overlapped positions with respect to other flaps. These boxes are usually shipped in a folded-flat condition and assembled immediately prior to use. Otherwise, the volume occupied thereby would unnecessarily consume space.
In recent years, special-purpose boxes have been developed to house uniquely-shaped articles, and for marketing and display purposes. For example, an eight-sided box has been developed heretofore, for example, to house and contain lamp bases and the like. However, it would generally be desirable to ship the empty box in a folded-flat condition simply to reduce the volume occupied thereby. The box may then be suitably manipulated or moved from such folded-flat condition to a fully-expanded condition immediately prior to insertion of the object to be contained therein. It would also be desirable to provide a box in which the bottom would form automatically as the box is moved from its folded-flat condition to its fully-expanded condition.
Others have attempted to provide an eight-sided box having an automatically-operated bottom structure. Details of such earlier forms of construction are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,549,690, 4,199,098 and 4,289,267. Other types of polygonal boxes, and blanks therefor, are shown in the publication, "Corrugated Box Style Reference", Post Machinery Company, Inc., Portsmouth, N.H. 03801 (undated).